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The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education

This book delves into the effects of standardized testing and school choice initiatives on the quality and accessibility of education in the United States. more

Author

Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch is an American historian and education policy analyst. She is recognized for her extensive work in the field of education, particularly her research on the history of American education and her criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act. more

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“The foundations demand that public schools and teachers be held accountable for performance, but they themselves are accountable to no one. If their plans fail, no sanctions are levied against them. They are bastions of unaccountability.”

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Book:The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education
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“What should we think of someone who never admits error, never entertains doubt but adheres unflinchingly to the same ideas all his life, regardless of new evidence? Doubt and skepticism are signs of rationality. When we are too certain of our opinions, we run the risk of ignoring any evidence that conflicts with our views. It is doubt that shows we are still thinking, still willing to reexamine hardened beliefs when confronted with new facts and new evidence.”

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Author:Diane Ravitch
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“American Education has a long history of infatuation with fads and ill-considered ideas. The current obsession with making our schools work like a business may be the worst of them, for it threatens to destroy public education. Who will Stand up to the tycoons and politicians and tell them so?”

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Book:The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education
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“Unless the schools provide our children with a vision of human possibility that enlightens and empowers them with knowledge and taste, they will simply play their role in someone else's marketing schemes. Unless they understand deeply the sources of our democracy, they will take it for granted and fail to exercise their rights and responsibilities.”

HumansChildrenPlaySchoolResponsibilityVisionRolesDemocracyRightsFailingPossibilitySourceExerciseTasteOur ChildrenMarketingGrantedEmpoweringSchemesEnlighteningRights And Responsibilities
Author:Diane Ravitch
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“Without knowledge and understanding, one tends to become a passive spectator rather than an active participant in the great decisions of our time.”

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Book:The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education
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“There is something fundamentally antidemocratic about relinquishing control of the public education policy agenda to private foundations run by society's wealthiest people; when the wealthiest of these foundations are joined in common purpose, they represent an unusually powerful force that is beyond the reach of democratic institutions.”

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Book:The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education
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“If charter schools are not more successful on average than the public schools they replace, what is accomplished by demolishing public education? What is the rationale for authorizing for-profit charters or charter management organizations with high-paid executives, since their profits and high salaries are paid by taxpayers' dollars?”

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Book:Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools
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